New NATO chief Mark Rutte visits Ukraine

Kyiv: New NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Ukraine on Thursday in his first official trip

since taking office and pledging the alliance’s continued support for Kyiv in its war with Russia.

Rutte met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv as air raid sirens twice went off in the Ukrainian capital.

The new head of NATO vowed when he took office on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for Ukraine, which has been fighting

Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022 and has for most of this year been on the defensive due to a relentless Russian army push in the country’s eastern regions.

Rutte expressed confidence that he can work with whomever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November.

That could be a key moment for Ukraine’s effort to ensure continuing Western support.

Zelenskyy said he discussed with Rutte elements of Ukraine’s so-called victory

plan, ahead of a NATO meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany next week.

The gathering draws together defence leaders from the 50-plus partner nations who regularly meet to coordinate weapons aid for the war.